The Donville Devil

The Donville Devil

By, Thomas Reynolds



         The night was young and bright. The moon hung high in the sky, and seemed to be a silver disc, and the night was well lit. The high pitched yapping of a dog suddenly cut into the darkness. The barking continued mercilessly into the night. The dog suddenly changed to a loud whimper. Was it of hunger? Fear? Pain? Then it stopped. Cut off in the middle of a whine. Was the dog okay? It had been travelling north towards the Duke’s manor.

         The manor sat upon a tall hill on the edge of town. It was in wonderful condition for being over 300 years old. All the windows looked brand new. The shingles were straight and had all of their color. You would never guess that it was haunted. Some people argue that it’s not, but I know better. My mother stopped buying us pets because they always disappear. But I know where they go. Animals are attracted to the manor. The people of Donville don’t wake up to birdsong. Nor do we have pest problems. And we don’t have insects. Flowers are scarce and die off if you plant them.

         The story of the manor is that the Duke, Vladimir, killed some people of early Donville. He did so without being detected, for a time. When the Duke went out to kill, he did so at night. Part of the reason for this, some people say, is because he was practicing dark magic. The more logical reason is that there are less people out at this time. Unfortunately for him, the latter reason was not true on his last murder.

         A small farm boy was walking home from the marketplace around the time of dusk. He was tired and had labored hard in the field. The day had been the hottest out of all the other days so far this year. His eyes drooping, he leaned against a nearby tree and fell asleep. He was awakened by a blood curdling scream. Instantly alert, he looked for the source of the cry. When he did find it, he was appalled by the scene set before him. The Duke had plunged a small curved knife into the back of the Inn keeper, Maria. He repeatedly stabbed her until she was dead, and then walked calmly off towards his manor.

         The farm boy, Michael, fled to the church, knowing it was futile to check on Maria. Throwing open the large doors to the church he yelled for help. The Bishop came into the chapel “Why are you yelling, boy?”

“Vladimir killed Maria! He’s the one behind all the murders!” As Michael said this the head priest’s face paled considerably.

“Peter, John, Joshua, Noah! Come here quickly!” The four priests gathered, coming from everywhere, it seemed.

         Vladimir thought that so far, everything was good. He was enjoying the kill, and almost all of the three rings were full. He just needed one more soul and it would be complete. He entered his manor, weary from the night’s activites. He managed to kill four people tonight. Four! Never had he captured so many souls in one night.

         He walked up to the second story and hanged a left, moving towards his bedroom. Legs tired and shaking, he climbed into bed. The dark magic of the Ent was taking it’s toll. Often he was tired, barely able to stand. Vladimir closed his eyes and peacefully fell asleep. A verse of prayer being whispered awoke him, sunlight shining in through the windows. He opened his eyes to see that five priests with daggers and scriptures were standing over him. Vladimir tried to jump out of bed, only to find that he was not able to move. There were no physical bondages restricting his movement. The chanting priests were getting progressively louder, getting to the point that they were yelling their holy verses. Their faces were growing red, either from lack of breath, or the sheer concentration.

         One of the priests walked forward, approaching Vladimir with a dagger in hand. “Be sealed, foul spawn of the devil! May your spirit be bound to this cursed estate!” After exclaiming his curse, he raised his dagger, then brought it down with inhuman force, piercing Vladimir’s chest.

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        “Hey! Anne! Are you talking to your stuffed animals again? You’re so weird!” My brother, James, entered my room with a wide grin plastered on his face.

         “So what if I am?” I asked, ready to defend myself. My brother continued talking as if he didn’t hear my challenge.

         “Are you going to come down for dinner any time soon?” I pretended to ponder over whether or not I should. I started to rub my chin and looked up. Of course my stomach had to rumble right then, rendering my act obsolete. I rushed my brother and pushed him over, leaving my room and charging down the stairs for my meal, laughing all the way.

         I sat down next to mother, the only parent that I had ever known, and a great cook.

         “So, how was your day, Jeanette?” My brother asked, faking a limp. He chose the only other seat at the round table.

         “Please call me Mom. And it was fine.” The moment she said that in reply, I knew that something was wrong. My mother sighed, trying to instigate a conversation.

         “What’s wrong?” I braced myself, knowing full well that it could be anything.

         “I got fired.” She stated simply.

         “What? Why!?” My brother and I asked simultaneously.

         “Adam made another move on me, so I hit him. Hard. He’s actually in the hospital.” Adam was my mom’s boss. A dirty, good-for-nothing boss.

         “Wait! If he’s in the hospital, then how did he fire you?” James asked.

My mom laughed, “He hasn’t. Yet.”

“Then why did you say it? You’re just overreacting!” I exclaimed. My mom went back to eating her dinner.

After dinner we went to the nearest bakery and bought some donuts, which is a tradition we have for Saturday nights. When we got back home, Mother told us to brush our teeth and go to bed. I didn’t want to sleep; it would make Sunday come sooner. I despised Sundays! They’re so slow and there’s nothing to do. My brother walked off towards his room and I walked to mine. I flopped onto my bed, facing the ceiling.          

         That’s when I heard it. It wasn’t the first time.

“Anne! Anne!” A disembodied voice whispered, “Come here, Anne. Come to me, come to the manor! There is great wealth within.” I had grown used to it over the years. The whisperings continued on, repeating the same thing over and over. I eventually fell asleep after about an hour. And awoke one minute later. What woke me up?  I noticed my brother walking past my door and down the stairs. I pursued him whispering, “Hey! James, what are you doing?” He didn’t respond. He opened the front door and walked out, heading north.

         “James! Come back!” I hissed, not wanting to wake the neighbors. I closed the door and ran after him. I grabbed his arm and dug my heels into the cement. I was hoping to stop him in his tracks, but to no avail. I cried and pleaded with him to stop and come home, but he ignored me. Then he grabbed a bar. Or, rather, he grabbed a fence. And the fence just happened to surround the Duke’s Manor.

         “James! This isn’t funny anymore, not that it ever was! Let’s go back!” I could not care less about waking the neighbors at this point, I was yelling! He ignored me, of course, and continued climbing the fence. When he reached the top, he jumped down on the other side. I couldn’t just leave him, could I? No! Never! I started climbing the fence and jumped to the other side. When I looked around, I saw my brother at the door. I ran to catch up. When I did I saw him knocking at the door. What did he think would happen? Maybe when the door doesn’t open, he’ll regain his senses and come back home!

         Then the unthinkable happened. With an eerie creak, the door opened. I looked around to see if somebody opened it, but couldn’t see anybody.

         “You finally decided to join me, Anne. The pleasure’s all mine. Come in, come in.” A raspy voice whispered. My legs seemed to move on their own, dragging me inside. The vast door slammed shut behind me. A large ornate rug lay on the ground. A grand staircase was set before me to lead toward the second level of the manor. Two hallways went East and West. There were also two doors on the East wall of the first floor, as well as one door on the West wall. I turned back to the door to exit, only to find that the doorknob was missing. And then the door was. I turned back to tell my brother about the door, to find I wasn’t even in the manor anymore. The room was pitch black, but I could see my brother perfectly.

         “It’s been so long since I’ve had human company! How exciting! Now… What to do, what to do…” The voice sounded as if it were right next to me. I looked around to look for the speaker, and maybe punch him in the face.

         “Oh, you won’t find me. Ever since your ancestor killed me, I’ve not had a physical form. But, thanks to the Ent’s dark magic I still have a great influence on living things.

         “Ooh! I know! I’ll have your brother kill you!” The voice laughed giddily. Fear coursed through me as he said this. My brother turned toward me. His face was placid, unmoving, calm. A smile crept onto his face, a big toothy grin. Then a look of pain suddenly replaced his previous lack of expression. He started to scream. It was loud and rough, but then it turned into a choked gurgling. What’s happening to James?

Suddenly blood poured out of his mouth and some of it frothed at his lips, turning into a pink foam. His eyes started to bulge, almost popping out of his head. Then blood seeped from both eyes, coming from the top and bottom lids. His eyes turned black, shining like gems. Then his teeth sharpened drastically, along with his nails. He started to pant heavily, like an animal. Then he disappeared, footsteps running off into nothingness. The noise of falling feet surrounded me. Then I jerked forward, pulled by my beastly brother. He was clamping down on my arm and he continued to pull. He then pushed me to the floor and planted his foot on my chest. Jerking up with inhuman strength he ripped my arm off. It sounded like Velcro being ripped apart. The pain was unbearable and I started to scream. I poured all of my frustration, fear, and pain into that scream. I looked down and to the left. Blood spurted out of the hanging veins. Muscle flopped around uselessly, no longer clinging to bone, strands of flesh dancing around at the new end of my arm. Through the darkening haze that was my vision, I saw my brother run off into the distance, sit down, and then start to gnaw on my arm, ripping the meat off the bone voraciously.

         I scrambled up off the abysmal floor, turned in the opposite direction of the creature who was once my brother, and sped off. A red outline of a person suddenly appeared before me.

         The figure chuckled, “You’d think I’d let you get away?” He started to sound angry near the end of his sentence. Then he raised his hand, and snapped his fingers. Nothing seemed to happen.

         Then I heard it. It sounded like a rabid lion was breathing, and it was right behind me. I slowly turned around, arms locked to my sides, and legs barely moving. There he was. James, in his grotesque form, was standing there before me. Then he opened his mouth and screamed. The scream was incredibly loud. It was possibly the loudest thing I’ve ever heard. Then there was a loud popping noise, and then my ears felt wet. There was a constant loud ringing in my ears. I lifted my only hand up to my ear, touched it, then brought it into my line of sight. There was blood all over my fingers.

         James’ mouth opened and closed, lips moving frantically. It looked like he was trying to speak, but I couldn’t hear him. Then he pointed his fingers so that the nails met in the same place. His mouth moved once more and then he stopped, waiting for a reply. After what seemed like seconds, he thrust his hand into my stomach, and pierced through my back. I immediately coughed up blood, spewing all over James. He didn't seem to care. The pain in my stomach and back were equal, if not greater, than all the pain I had received thus far. My vision started to dim, until I lost consciousness, never to regain it.

END